Cheese-press.



PATENTED MAIL. 24, 1908.

E. L. MOKINNON.

CHEESE PRESS. AIPLIGATIOH FILED MAY-2. 1907.

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PATENTED MAB. 24,1908, I

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4 Presses, of which the following ELMER LUDINGTON MCKINNON, OF SHEBOYGANFALLS, WISCONSIN.

CHEESE-PRESS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELMER L. MoKINNoN, residing in Sheboygan Falls,county of Sheboygan, and State of Wisconsin, have invented new anduseful'Improvements in Cheeseis a descriphad to the accompanytion,reference being are a part of this specimg drawings, which fication.

This invention has for its obj eot to provide a cheese press with anovel means for automatically applying continuous pressure to thecheese.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cheese press of novelconstruction, whereby it may be made convertible for pressing largecheese or small cheese.

Another object of this invention is to improve upon general details ofconstruction of cheese presses.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists in thecheese press herein claimed and its parts and combinations of parts andall equivalents.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which like characters ofreference indicate the same parts in the several views; Figure 1 is aside elevation, partly in section, of a cheese press constructed inaccordance with this invention, having one side arranged for pressing asingle gang of large cheese. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof, having oneside arranged for pressing a double row of small cheese; Fig. 3 is arear end elevation thereof arranged as shown in Fig. 2 Fig. 4 is atransverse sectional view thereof arranged as shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 5 isa rear end elevation thereof arranged as shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is anend elevation of'a similar press with one side arranged for pressing thesingle gang of large cheese; and, Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail view ofthe rack plunger feeding mechanism.

In these drawings 10 represents a main frame which is mounted onsupporting legs 11 suitably braced so as to be rigid therewith, saidframe having one or more troughs for receiving gangs of cheese to becompressed and for collecting and conveying the whey and other liquidsexpressed from the cheese to the front lower end of the frame. As hereshown the trough on one side of the frame is a large trough 12 and thetrough on the other side of the frame is a smaller trough 13.

It will be understood that the invention is not confined to thearrangement of the double Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 2, 1907.

Patented March 24, 1908. Serial No. 371,561.

troughs as here shown, as either trough may be used singly or a numberof troughs of one kind may be used together with the associatedmechanism therefor to be described.

The frame 10 is adapted to swing u on the leg members 11 and its frontfree en works within a rectangular guide frame 14 which is rigidlybraced from the other end of the frame by means of brace bars 15 mountedon plates 16 at the lower end of the frame 14 and connecting with across piece 17 eXtending between the leg members 1 1 and supporting thetroughs 12 and 13. The front end of the main frame has a cross bar 18extending across its top to which is connected a rack 19 adapted to beengaged by means of a hand lever 20 working on a link 21 on the frame 14for lifting the main frame, there being a pawl loop 22 on the guideframe for engaging the rack and holding the main frame suspended in theguide frame when desired.

A pressure bar 23 extends across the main frame, passing through slotsin the sides thereof which are protected by guard plates 50, and hasdisk-shaped heads 24 mounted thereon forming the end abutinents for thegangs of cheese in the troughs, and this presser bar is given a tendencyto move against the cheese, so as to exert continuous pressure thereon,by having its ends connected by links 25 with inclined bars 26 which arepivotally connected to the lates 16 on the guide frame, said links 25eing guided by hearing against grooved rollers 27 which are mounted onbrackets on the sides of the main frame. When the main frame is suppliedwith gangs of cheese bearing against the heads 24 the weight of the mainframe and the cheese causes it to tilt upon its leg members 11 and lowerthe front end thereof. As the rods 26 are lowered they exert a tensionupon the links 25 and cause the presser bar 23 to slide in the frametoward the cheese, the friction rollers 27 guiding the links 25 duringsuch movement.

The edges of the shoulders forming the side walls of the troughs arebeveled to receive the hoops of the gangs of cheese, and each trough isprovided with an adjustable rack frame carrying one or more rackplungers for giving pressure to the cheese. The rack frame 28 for thesmaller trough 13 comprises a plate with one edge fitting in a slot inthe side wall of the main frame and its other side turned downwardly andgrooved to fit upon an angle iron track 29 along the edge of the trough13, there being a pin 30 fitting in openings of the angle iron track tohold the track frame in any of its adjustments along the trough and apin 31 fitting in the side wall of the main frame to engage an opening32 in the rack frame to further lock the rack frame in its adjustedposition against backing during compression. A rack 33 carrying aplunger head 34 on its end slidably fits in a guideway 35 of the rackframe 28 and is adapted to be engaged by a pair of pawls '36 on theframe 37 of a hand lever 38 which is pivoted between a pair ofupstanding ears on the rack frame. The pawls 36 are so positionedrelative to the pivotal point of the head of the hand lever that duringthe oscillations of the hand lever one pawl moves in one direction asthe other pawl moves in the opposite direction and consequently by suchoscillations the rack is fed forwardly. The lower pawl is provided mentsand also a pin 31 fitting in openings through the side wall of the mainframe to engage the rack frame. The rack frame 40, besides having acentral guideway for a rack 43 carrying a plunger head 44, has a pair ofsmaller guideways 42 at the sides thereof which are adapted to receive apair of smaller racks 43 carrying smaller plunger heads 44 and operatedby hand levers 38 in the same manner and by the same means as with theother construction above referred to. When the pair of smaller racks 43are employed the larger trough 12 is adapted for use with a pair ofgangs of smaller size cheese, there being a removable beveled partitionor guide 45 to be placed in the trough 12 at such time to form with thebeveled edges of the sides of the trough a pair of guideways for thecheese hoops.

In operation the main frame is lifted by means of the lever 20 until itis supported in its highest position by the frame 14, where it is lockedby the pawl 22 and the gangs of cheese are placed in position on theirguideways, the gange of small cheese on trough 13 and a gang of largecheese on trough 12 if it is without the partition, or a pair of gangsof small cheese if the partition is in place. Then the track frames aremoved toward the cheese until the plunger heads bear thereon when saidframes are locked in place both by the pins 31 and the pins 30 and thepivoted catches 41 and then the racks are separately fed toward thecheese by the operation of their respective hand levers 38, the twosmaller rack plungers 44 being employed with the frame 40 if two gangsof cheese are used in the trough 12 and the single larger rack plunger44 being employed if the larger cheese are pressed in this trough. Whenthe desired compression is attained through the operation of the handlevers, the pawl 22 is disengaged from the rack 19 so that the weight ofthe main frame and its contents will serve to apply continuous pressureupon the cheese through the action of the inclined bars 26, the frame.14 being prevented from displacement during this action of the inclinedrods by means of the tie rods 15.

By means of the removable partition 45 and the convertible rack frame 40the one side of the press may be converted froma large cheese press to adouble small cheese press, a feature of advantage which is verydesirable in a device of this nature. By the construction of thisinvention a pair of troughs may be arranged slde by side w1thout anobjectionable partition therebetween.

What I claim as my invention is;

1. A cheese press, comprising a main frame for holding the cheese andhaving supports at one end, a presser bar extending across the frame andadapted to engage the cheese, and an inclined bar mounted on the floorand connected with the presser bar so as to be moved by the movements ofthe main frame for giving continuous pressure to the cheese by reason ofthe weight of the main frame and its contents.

2. A cheese press, comprising a main frame for holding the cheese andhaving supports at one end, a presser bar extending across the frame andadapted to engage the cheese, an inclined bar mounted on the fioor andconnected with the presser bar so as to be moved by the movements of themain frame for giving continuous pressure to the cheese by reason of theweight of the main frame and its contents, and a tierod connecting thelower part of the inclined rod with the main frame.

3. A cheese press, comprising a main frame for holding the cheese andhaving supports at one end, a presser bar extending across the frame andadapted to engage the cheese, a link connected to the presser bar, andan inclined bar mounted on the fioor and connected with the link so asto be moved by the movements of the main frame for giving continuouspressure to the cheese by reason of the weight of the main frame and itscontents.

4. A cheese press, comprising a main frame for holding the cheese andhaving supports at one end, a presser bar extending across the frame andadapted to engage the cheese, a link connected to the presser bar, aguide on the main frame against which the link bears, and an inclinedbar mounted on the floor and connected with the link for givingcontinuous ressure to the cheese by reason of the Weig t of the mainframe and its contents.-

5. A cheese press, comprising a main frame for holding the cheese andhaving sup ports at one end, a presser bar extending across the frameand adapted to engage the cheese, a link connected to the presser bar, aroller guide on the main frame against which the link bears, an inclinedbar mounted on the floor and connected with the link, and a tie rodconnecting the inclined rod with the main frame.

6. A cheese press, comprising a main frame for receiving the cheese andhaving supports at the one end, a presser bar eX- tending across themain frame at the other end and slidable in guides thereof, means on themain frame for pressing the cheese against the presser bar, linksconnected to the ends of the presser bar, a frame having means forlifting the free end of the main frame, inclined rods pivotally mountedthereon and connected with the links, roller guides on the main frameengaged by the links, and tie rods connecting said frame with the legsupported end of the main frame.

7. A cheese press, comprising a main frame forming a trough forcontaining one or more gangs of cheese, a rack frame adjustably mountedacross the trough and having a central rack guide and a pair of rackguides at the sides thereof, and rack plungers with their operatingmeans adapted to be fitted in the central rack guide or in the side rackguides, whereby a single gang of large cheese or a pair of gangs ofsmall cheese may be compressed thereby, and a partition located in thetrough for supporting the pair of gangs of small cheese, being removableto accommodate the gang of large cheese.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

ELMER LUDINGTON MGKINNON.

Witnesses:

JNo. E. THOMAS, STEDMAN THOMAS.

